What new parts could the game realistically use?

[PDCWolf]

•Radiators

•3.75m station parts (like the hitchhiker but that doesn't look like the inside of a passenger plane)

•3.75m spaceship based cockpit (think a more IXS based, centered, front facing cockpit. Like what the cupola is now.)

•MK3 drone part

•1.25m Cupola, without the control panel in the middle of the view

•Smaller and less OP airbrakes

•5-way rcs

•Tweakables for existing tanks to hold whatever I want them to hold

•Propellers, turboprops, turbofans

•Pontoons for hydro-whatevers

•Smaller and bigger electricity related parts

•Struts you can place while on EVA

•More landing leg variations (aerodynamic ones too)

•More engines, less homogenized, more specialized

•1.875m parts

•More probe shapes and sizes

•Cylindrical cargo bays (for rockets instead of planes)

•More nosecone variation (or a procedural one based on the fairing technology)

•0.625m solid boosters and plane related parts

•Something to extend the amount of fuel a SRB has (talked about long ago)

•More antennas even if they are just visual

•3.75m docking ports

•Cargo ramps

•MORE ADAPTERS BETWEEN DIFFERENT SIZES

•Etc

All doable, most already done too. None of them seem to go outside the scope of the game except for the non-jet-related plane parts. INB4 HURR DURR PART CLUTTER/RAM, give us a working x64 version for that

[Tourist]

I've not yet messed around with KAS, but fully intend to at some point. I'm hoping I don't to need if it is added to stock in the near future. Having Kerbals able to do structural reinforcement in space would be great, as it would actually give a purpose to the engineer class (I don't play with rovers much, so don't break wheels). Also it would give an additional purpose for spaceplanes, in that you could use them to send parts and engineers to a station or mothership.

I'd also like to add my vote to a propeller. Oh and hinges!

I know all of this has been done by mods, but ultimately these are ideas I feel would enhance Career mode. I like career mode as is, but I think it could do with some deepening. Imagine a contract that system the periodically requires updates to your Kerbin space station. Contract 1, Cupola, hitchhiker storage, and power. Contract two add science compartment. Contract three add more living quarters, and shielded docking ports, MOAR POWER, add reinforcement (add at least two struts), Contract 4, replace current crew (min new 1 scientist 1 engineer). etc.... hmmm I've seged from new parts to general wish list.

A propeller means you could have a "history of flight" type career mode or contract.

Edited May 25, 2015 by Tourist
Forgot something

[Rocket Farmer]

In response to a heavy lifter 1.25m engine and a 2 man 1.25m pod I'd vote a strong no.

Both of your issues can be overcome with good building (yes, lots of boosters and yes 2 one man pods) or alternatively you can use the next size up which had both. You want parts that remove the challenge.

Instead I like the requests for.

1. Radiators. This could be very handy.

2. Hoses for fuel transfer on the surface. Yes you can use the claw or perfectly align docking clamps but that's more of a pain then a challenge (in my opinion).

3. Electric propeller. I would do expand my Explorer plane fleet by using them on Duna and similar worlds that have no air but do have atmosphere.

- - - Updated - - -

Oh and a robotic arm would be very nice (canada arm style) with a gantry. Would make unloading cargo bays much easier.

[LordFerret]

Docking cameras. Docking cameras. And, docking cameras.

Did I mention docking cameras?

[oriramikad]

Stronger wheels.

[Fel]

Also, I want to see some big SRBs. Like Space Shuttle or SLS ones. The ones that can lift huge payloads and provide good launchpad TWR to big rockets. Not sure about small ones since what we already have is quite small. Even kickbacks don't do much for really big rockets.

The ones we have are actually quite huge, but in KSP we BUILD bigger than reality would allow.

Of course, the ones we have are insanely gimped. Boosters are suppose to be cheap, high thrust, stage 1 ditch + recover... and they aren't. They're balanced against liquidengines instead of having their own niche.

*So yeah, more functional boosters

[Starwhip]

Bigger jets for bigger planes.

More Mk3 wings, or an overhaul.

Inline plane/lander landing gear.

Bigger solar panels for the new solar curve. At least bigger fixed panels, something approaching 2x the size of the OX-STAT.

EVA struts and fuel lines. Would be a godsend.

SRBs with some punch. The current ones are kind of wimpy.

Of course, better fairings. Art overhaul, please!

[merendel]

Propeller. We've got simple fixed landing gear now, we really need a puller engine to go with it. Would make small survey planes far easier to construct.

Seconded. Particularly if it can be electrically driven so it will work on any atmosphere and not just kerbin/lathe. eve is just beging for something like that.

[Brotoro]

Docking cameras. Docking cameras. And, docking cameras.

Did I mention docking cameras?

I approve of Lord Ferret's opinion.

[WinkAllKerb'']

rear oppening cargo bay for unloading/loading wheeled vehicules from horizontal designed ship/rocket/plane/spaceplane/ssto/etc. (remind me a few existing parts by some modders here and there also linked to "the magic attach thing thread in cargo bay" request thing in suggestion sub forum and/or quantum strut alike kind of concept and/or klaw variations etc.)

Edited May 26, 2015 by WinkAllKerb''

[Red Dwarf]

Hmmm... We've seen a lot of good suggestions. Radiators would be super helpful, KAS and Outer Planets integration would be cool. Maybe a stock take on Extraplanetary Launchpads? Really, all I want is more plane parts. A reliable Mk.3 Big Red SSTO has been my dream for a while, and the current engines are so... dinky. I need something with chutzpah! A full two-meter engine pod would add some fun end-game toys for us space-plane builders.

Also, propellers would be a fantastic early to mid-game tool. It seems kind of weird to me that a plane built in early career games can easily break the sound barrier. With propellers being introduced before the basic jet, that wouldn't be so much of a problem. More realistic progression, more fun parts to play with. Also, imagine its applications on oxygen-less worlds. I remember wanting to build a mobile Eve science station, flying low and slow, milking all the science Eve has to offer. With electric propellers, that wouldn't be a problem. Eve's atmosphere is still really thick, even after the demise of the souposphere. It wouldn't take a whole lot to get a self-sufficient science lab into the air. Consider propellerrs an in-atmosphere counterpart to the Ion drive: Uses small amounts of fuel and lots of electricity, for low, high-efficiency thrust.

[WinkAllKerb'']

Hmmm... We've seen a lot of good suggestions.

+101 even 101,1% xDr there so much little thing that could fit ; )

[Geschosskopf]

Thought of something else...

* Bulldozers, excavators, and tunnelers to allow modification of the terrain.

I want my colonies on level ground so the residents plates don't slide off their tables. I want to make smooth landing pads and runways on other planets. I want to be able to dig canals for irrigation and to connect various bodies of water. I want to make underground bases. I want missile silos. All that.

[eddiew]

2.5m rapier and 2.5m air intake(s). People are already Tweakscaling them in because it's a massive omission, might as well admit it

[Grumman]

Thought of something else...

* Bulldozers, excavators, and tunnelers to allow modification of the terrain.

I want my colonies on level ground so the residents plates don't slide off their tables. I want to make smooth landing pads and runways on other planets. I want to be able to dig canals for irrigation and to connect various bodies of water. I want to make underground bases. I want missile silos. All that.

Tunnelers would be the easiest of the three to add, since they could be faked. Rather than actually deforming the terrain mesh, you could make it a 3.75M sized part which is used to create an airlock on the surface, which leads to whatever system of underground modules you choose to create.

[Geschosskopf]

Tunnelers would be the easiest of the three to add, since they could be faked. Rather than actually deforming the terrain mesh, you could make it a 3.75M sized part which is used to create an airlock on the surface, which leads to whatever system of underground modules you choose to create.

Well, consider Pathea's Planet Explorers. It's a Unity game, it has voxel terrain, and the players can dig holes and tunnels, and pile up mounds, all they want. I would think such things should be doable in KSP.

[Rainbowtrout]

Definitely electric propellers. I've tried building small planes before, but the lack of a small enough engine (LFO ones are okay, but the fuel adds weight) really annoys me.

[lazarus1024]

Folding wings, so that you can do things like make a "sail plane" for Duna or Lathe (or Eve). Electrically powered prop engine for the above places too.

A nuclear reactor at some point. Big, heavy, TONS of electricity.

Heat sinks/radiators. Maybe a small fixed part as well as a bigger, more efficient, folding radiator part.

Robot arm with a grasper at the end. Maybe in two sizes and strengths (1.5m and 2.5m "sizes"). Like one that can pick up .5t on Kerbal and one that can pick up 1.5t on Kerbal.

Extendable/collapsable "accordian" type structual parts. So you can, for instance, mount an RTG and a high gain antenna on a probe core, stick it in a fairing and then in orbit, you can extend out the RTG and high gain away from the probe core. Or you can mount stuff in a plane/shuttle bay or equipment bay and then either use a grasper arm or accordian part to extend it out.

I am VERY much looking forward to SQUAD doing the Unity 5 transition as well as the full audio pass. Maybe more than any other thing. So far I am LOVING 1.02. The game feels a lot more complete between the new aero, the new parts, re-entry heat, etc. Granted, I am also in the club where I wouldn't mind if re-entry heat were turned up a little, so that on normal difficulty you had to actually worry about it a little (IE needing heat shields, at least for "beyond Kerbal" re-entry type velocities). At higher difficulty settings you should need to worry about re-entry angle, not just if you have a heat shield or not.

All of that said, two things I am hoping for eventually are multiplayer. That and hopefully either a release focused on "moar parts" or continuing the awesome itterating of parts. Both low level, mid level and high level parts.

One of the other things I've noticed is that there could be some more rover parts. Maybe a "capsule" or two that are dedicated rover capsules (A la, "Mars rover" type stuff). Maybe a scientific instrument so that probes can take soil samples as a very high level part.

Edited May 26, 2015 by lazarus1024

[Grumman]

Well, consider Pathea's Planet Explorers. It's a Unity game, it has voxel terrain, and the players can dig holes and tunnels, and pile up mounds, all they want. I would think such things should be doable in KSP.

Planet Explorers' map is apparently 153 square kilometers. Kerbin alone is 4,500,000 square kilometers. That means you can't use the same terrain-generating methods without having hundreds of gigabytes of data. If you use a composite system, you need to be able to cope with people trying to fit 1.1 square kilometers of earthworks into a 1 square kilometer data block, or what have you.

[lazarus1024]

Oh, and a space telescope. Whether it is a "legit" science part that can be used for science in different places, or one that is pure functional, I think it would be cool to be able to have a 1st person view out of it (with pan/tilt capability and maybe zoom too). Nothing extreme, but a 3-10x max zoom would be cool. Be neat to do things like look up at your space station in Mun orbit from your Mun base. Or try to spot Jool. That kind of thing.

[Jouni]

The ones we have are actually quite huge, but in KSP we BUILD bigger than reality would allow.

They SRBs we have in the game are not huge. They're tiny.

The boosters used for the initial SLS launches will be 54 m tall, 3.7 m wide, and weight 730 tonnes. They will generate 16000 kN of thrust at sea level, while the first stage engine cluster will only generate 7440 kN. In KSP, the Mammoth engine cluster is comparable to the SLS engine cluster. As it generates 3746 kN of thrust at sea level, the KSP equivalents of the SLS boosters would generate about 8000 kN. Their dimensions might be something like 36 m tall and 2.5 m wide, making them almost as big as a stack of five orange tanks.

[gigaboom2]

I think that mk 2 ramjets/intakes would be nice and could revive the SSTO industry. That or 2.5m plane parts.

[NecroBones]

Something I love about this thread is that it's giving me ideas for mod parts. I'm taking notes.

[Red Iron Crown]

Something I love about this thread is that it's giving me ideas for mod parts. I'm taking notes.

Easy there, there's only so much room for mod awesomeness in your signature.

[Sky_walker]

Items based on a real scientific instruments. That's the most obvious thing.